A Week With The Enemy
by mihane100
Summary: After the revelation that Vlad is his Dad, Danny isn't exactly happy. With his new girlfriend, he'd almost forgotten about it. That is, until he gets an unexpected babysitter. Will Danny ever accept Vlad as his father, or will the two half ghosts forever be enemies? Collab with Kasena. Occurs after the other collab fics 'Trapped with the Enemy' and 'Class with the Enemy'.
1. Chapter 1

**Greetings, readers! Here it is, the long-awaited sequel to 'Trapped With The Enemy'. This, as expected, is another collab with Kasena, and was genuinely a lot of fun for both of us! This story is major Badger Cereal (Danny and Vlad father/son), with a little bit of Phantom Rocker (Danny X Ember), though if you aren't a fan of Phantom Rocker, you should still enjoy this, since there really isn't much of it in this. Chronologically, this comes directly after 'Class With The Enemy', but if you haven't read that, it shouldn't affect how you understand the plot. However, you WILL be totally confused if you haven't read 'Trapped With The Enemy', so I suggest doing that! ^^**

**Without further ado, enjoy the new fic!**

_**Disclaimer:**__** Kasena and I don't own Danny Phantom, so anyone that says to the contrary deserves to be sucked into a Fenton Thermos with Technus. :D**_

**Chapter One**

The doorbell rang throughout the Fenton household that evening. At first, Danny had been ecstatic at the idea that his parents were going to another lame ghost hunting convention _without him_ this time. He wouldn't exactly be home alone since he was with Jazz, but for some reason, fate decided to slap him hard in the kiwis and get him landed with a babysitter- Vlad, to be exact. _Just perfect._ Having your arch-enemy/dad babysit you wasn't just degrading, it was cruel. He knew the guy would use this to his advantage and try another stupid 'join me' plot. After all, why else would the guy agree to do it?

So, when his parents opened the door for the man, Danny wasn't exactly enthusiastic.

"Why, hello Daniel!" the man beamed, ruffling the boy's raven black hair. Danny glared at him in response, knowing he couldn't directly insult the man in front of his parents.

"Hello...Vlad," he greeted with a grimace. His parents, not noticing the boy's hostility, cheerfully said goodbye and left Danny on his own with his arch-enemy.

"What are you up to, Vlad?" Danny growled, watching as the man took a seat on the couch, making himself at home.

"Honestly, is that any way to talk to your father?" The man asked, smirking at the frustrated teen.

"You're _not_ my father, Vlad!" Danny exclaimed, shooting a weak ectoblast at the man, of which he easily dodged by tilting his body to the left.

"Oh, really, Daniel? The birth records say otherwise, my boy."

Danny growled and shot him a toxic green eyed glare. "I'll be in my room, fruitloop. I can't take being in the same room as you _again_. Not after last time."

Vlad raised his eyebrows. "Really? Why the sudden change of attitude towards me? If I recall, you referred to me as 'Dad' a few times."

Danny's glare didn't waver. "Don't get me wrong, Plasmius. What happened that day was a one off. We'd been stuck in that room for, like, six hours or something. I was delusional and you know I was. Now back off."

Vlad chuckled, which only seemed to anger Danny even more. "You're awfully angry today," he remarked smugly.

"Of course I'm angry!" Danny blurted out without thinking. "I'm missing a date with my girlfriend for this! The only one in a worse mood is probably her!"

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "You finally dated Ms. Manson?"

Danny rolled his eyes. "What? No! Eww, she's my best friend." The boy let out a content sigh. "My girlfriend, she's...amazing. She's so beautiful and when she smiles…" He let out another sigh, honestly forgetting that Vlad was there now. The man smirked. That boy was just like him when he thought about Maddie. Though he did wonder who this girl was.

"And just who is this mystery girl?" Danny finally followed his lead, sitting on the chair across from the man.

He shrugged, trying, and failing, to keep a smile off his face, "A girl. Really cool one, too. She's just… she's… it's like, she's my opposite, but we're really alike, y'know?" Throughout his explanation, his eyes never lost their dreamy gaze, and his grin was that of someone who was absolutely starstruck.

This made Vlad even more curious, and amused, "This seems like something a bit more than simply liking her."

Danny wasn't sure how to respond, and he said as much, "I don't know."

Vlad chuckled, asking, "Perhaps I'll have the pleasure of meeting her?" At Danny's glare, he shrugged, "I expected as much. Well, I do apologize that you will be missing it, but I'm sure she won't mind just one date."

Danny quickly shook his head, "No, no, she's gonna be _pissed._ She got stood up, once. It didn't end well."

Vlad, deadpanned, "Language, Daniel."

"English, Vlad," he said mockingly.

"Well, then I hope that she doesn't hurt you too badly." He smirked, "Women can be quite temperamental."

Danny groaned, "Ugh, tell me about it. She's pretty _fiery._" Danny tried to not laugh at his own joke. "She can get pretty _heated up_."

Vlad didn't acknowledge the apparent jokes, instead nodding, "Yes, somehow, I'm not surprised. You always do like a challenge."

Danny pouted, "Shut up, Vlad. It wasn't my fault- wait. Scratch that. Basically right after meeting her, we got into a prank war, then a pun contest."

Vlad shook his head, "I keep telling you, Daniel, those jokes of yours are going to get you into trouble." He scowled at the man, until there was a loud banging.

"DANNY?! GET OUT HERE." There was anger, yet worry in her tone. Danny froze, and 'Emma' phased through the door. She glared daggers at him, "And here I was, thinking some ghost did you in, and you're here, sipping tea with… with…" She looked over at Vlad, and was even angrier, if possible. "Danny, hold me back," she whispered. He jumped up and grabbed her arms, pulling them behind her, just as she started to lunge for him.

"What... is she doing?" Vlad asked, confused as he stood up from the couch.

Danny gave Ember a perplexed look. "Hey, I don't like the fruitloop either, but I never realised you hated him this much," he remarked, ignoring the glare that Vlad was giving him.

"How can you just... _sit there_ and _talk_ to him, after what he did to Dani?!" she exclaimed, outraged.

Danny blinked. "Wait, you know about the…" he took a quick glance at the older hybrid. "...cloning thing?" He whispered the last part. She nodded angrily.

"Daniel, is she alright?" Vlad asked cautiously.

Danny chuckled bitterly. "Well, I told you she was fiery."

Vlad's eyes went wide as the sudden realisation dawned on him. "That's...your girlfriend?"

Ember turned around to glare at Danny. "You _told_ him about me?"

Danny laughed nervously. "Well, he asked why I was annoyed at him and I told him it was because I was missing our date. Next thing I know, I'm talking about you."

Vlad nodded. "Yes, dear girl. He seems to be quite taken by you, actually."

The rock ghost relaxed her body's tense stance and Danny, realising this, let go of her.

"I love you, babypop," she told the blushing teenager, giving him a quick peck on the cheek. Danny grinned his lovestruck grin in response. "So, why're you hangin' out with the fruitloop, anyway? I thought you hated each other."

Danny shrugged helplessly at her. "My parents are at a ghost hunting convention and needed a babysitter."

"And they chose... _him_?" she asked with disgust.

Vlad gave the girl a 'I'm-still-here' expression. "Well, I _am_ his father," he muttered, loud enough for them all to hear. Danny facepalmed. Great. Just great. Now his girlfriend knew that his archenemy was his Dad. That'll go down well.

Ember scoffed at Vlad. "Yeah right, jerkwad! Everyone from here to the Ghost Zone knows you want Danny as your son. Not that it'll actually happen or anything, though."

Danny laughed nervously. "He...kinda is. Unfortunately, you can't choose who your family is." Vlad winced. Was saying that really necessary? Trying to change the rather painful subject, the man raised one of his eyebrows.

"Wait just a moment. You just said 'Ghost Zone'. You're a ghost?"

Emma chuckled evilly and pressed the earring's 'off' button, transforming her back into Ember McLain, ghost rocker. "You got that right, dipstick," she smirked, revelling in the man's horrified expression. Daniel was dating...Skulker's ex-girlfriend? When the boy had talked so affectionately about his girlfriend, he hadn't expected her to be Ember of all people. He looked at Daniel. Maybe he just didn't know he was dating a ghost? No, the boy hadn't even blinked.

"Have you got some kind of love spell on him?" Vlad asked suspiciously. The teen flipped her flaming ponytail.

"What? That might be how you get _your_ relationships, old man, but it sure as heck ain't mine." He wasn't convinced.

"How do I know you're not just lying?" Danny rolled his eyes.

"Wow, didn't think you and Sam would ever agree on something. I'm pretty sure she _still_ thinks I'm under a spell. Wouldn't I know if I were under one?"

He nodded, "You may. Or you may not. How am I to know?"

She smirked, "I put him under that spell once. It was hilarious, you kept going after her like a lost puppy!"

He blushed in embarrassment, "Shut up! Wasn't my fault that _somebody_ wanted to take over the world!"

Ember paused, "Yes, it is."

"How is that?"

She shrugged, "I dunno, it just is."

"Like most things, naturally," Vlad sneered, getting revenge for earlier.

Ember shot Vlad a glare. "Hey, I can tease him all I want," she snapped. "You, on the other hand, can't. Back off, jerk."

Danny gave her an appreciative look. Ember really was the best girlfriend he could ever want.

"Well," the rocker mused. "I can see you're gonna totally lose it if you stay with Plasmius one more minute, and since you can't leave the house apparently, I guess I'm gonna have to be a good girlfriend and keep you company, right?" she said it carelessly, but she could tell Danny needed her there for moral support. The guy, even though he was also apparently Danny's Dad, was still a total creep.

Danny grinned at her. "Thank you _so_ much," he whispered to her, feeling relief wash over him.

"Besides," She grinned maniacally, cracking her knuckles, "I can get some much needed revenge." Seeing where this was going, he held her back again, and she started shouting, "How _dare_ you do that to her?! She loved you, she thought _you_ loved _her_! Then you threw it back in her face! You wanted her dead! I should kill the other half of you for that!"

He glared at her intensely, "You have no idea what you're talking about, girl, and you'd do well to mind your own business."

"It _is_ my business, now, since I care about her more than you ever did."

"You don't even know _who_ you're talking about."

Through clenched teeth, she hissed, "Danielle."

**XXX**

Vlad's eyes immediately shifted to Danny, who winced, "I only found out that she knew about all that a couple minutes ago!"

"And how, exactly, did you find out?"

"Why do you want to know? So you can find her, and try to kill her again?!" She phased through Danny's hold and grabbed his arm, "C'mon." She then stomped up the stairs, and walked into Danny's room, slamming the door behind them.

Danny let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding, "Well, that could've gone a lot better." Reluctantly, Danny followed.

"Ugh! He just makes me so MAD!" the girl exclaimed, sitting down on Danny's computer chair. Danny sighed. She'd be like this for hours if he didn't do something.

"Ember," Danny said sternly, putting two hands on the girl's shoulders. "Trust me, the guy's not worth it. You need to chill out." Ember found herself staring into Danny's pools of baby blue and she felt her core calming. She knew she couldn't be angry for long when she was with Danny. Her angry expression softened and her tense body relaxed under his hold.

"You're right, babypop," she told him with a sigh. The boy, in response, let go of her and crashed onto his bed, mission accomplished.

"Man, I'm exhausted," the boy muttered through a yawn. "A lot of the ghosts just won't leave me alone today, especially Skulker."

Ember gave him a smirk. "You think he may have accidentally found out who your girlfriend is?"

Before Danny could respond, Jazz, who had been busy studying in her room the whole time, knocked on the door and let herself in.

"Danny, you okay? I heard shouting downsta-" she cut herself off when she saw who was also sat in her brother's room and gasped.

The ghost rocker waved at the girl cockily.

"E- Ember? Danny, quick! Distract her while I get the Fenton Thermos!"

Danny chuckled. "Jazz, relax. Neither of us are sucking Ember in the Fenton thermos." His sister frowned and gave Ember a suspicious look.

"You brainwashed him, didn't you?" she asked accusingly, her azure eyes glaring at the ghost. Ember rolled her eyes and turned to Danny.

"For Ghost Zone's sake! Why does everyone think I brainwashed you to like me?"

The boy shrugged. "Well, we _were _trying to kill each other a while back. Weird, huh?"

They both looked at Jazz. Her facial expression looked like a mixture of intrigue, confusion, suspicion and anger, if that were possible.

"But she's evil! Why is she hanging out in your room?!" The redhead exclaimed.

"She's... she's my girlfriend," Danny told her, a familiar dreamy look on his face.

Jazz's eyes widened and she sat herself next to Danny on the bed in shock. "I...need to sit down. This can't be happening…"

"Well get used to it, dipstick, 'cos I ain't goin' anywhere," Ember told her smugly, leaning her arms on the back of the chair and shooting Danny a wink.

Danny thought, and shrugged helplessly, "Maybe everybody's weirded out cause they forget I'm half ghost."

Ember shrugged, "I dunno, but it's getting old."

Jazz glanced downstairs, and remarked, "You know, I'm almost surprised you all aren't downstairs."

"And be in the same room as that jerk?! No, thanks." The couple said in unison.

"But he's your Dad, Danny! You can't avoid him forever."

"Says you! Watch me!" The boy exclaimed stubbornly.

"Ember," Jazz asked curiously. "Why do _you _hate Vlad so much?" She didn't think the man had done anything to the rocker ghost, so why did she hate him so much?

"Cause he's a jerk who only cares about himself!" Ember brought her guitar around from her back, and began to strum aimlessly. She strummed a chord that she liked, and grinned. Grabbing a pencil from his desk, and some scratch paper, she quickly began to jot down some music. She soon became distracted by the music she was playing, and forgot about everything else.

Danny watched with a lopsided grin, until he realized she was floating out of the chair. She didn't seem to notice, and he took joy in this. His grin turned a hint malicious as he found a brown paper bag. He filled it up with air, and tip-toed over to her. Seeing that she was still in her own world, he readied, then popped the bag right next to her. She gasped, and fell back into her chair. Danny laughed hysterically, while she glared at him, "Ugh! You are such a jerk! I'll get you back for that! You won't even see it coming."

Danny laughed as she started commencing tickle torture. She never realised Danny was so ticklish, but the boy was practically writhing on the bed. "Haha! No-o... haha! Stop! Haha! I-I su... surrender! Haha! Stop it, Em!" The girl laughed and continued her revenge, regardless of his giggles of mercy. Meanwhile, Jazz watched the two interact with amusement. That was definitely Danny, she was sure of it. Only Danny would try something like the paperbag trick. These two really did have some sort of special connection, she could see that. Chuckling lightly to herself, the girl made her way downstairs to give the couple some privacy. She did, however, have something to talk to Vlad about, mainly her brother, so maybe it was a good thing that he was a bit preoccupied.

"Hello, Vlad."

"Hello, Jasmine. Is there something you need?"

She shrugged, "Not necessarily. I was just thinking you needed some help."

He scoffed, "Oh, really? You want to help me? How so?"

"Well, you want to keep an eye on Danny and I, but you also don't want him to attack you, right?" He slowly nodded. "Just put on a movie. Studies show that nine times out of ten, children will willingly be distracted by movies." When he nodded, she went back upstairs, and told the couple, who were just sitting around talking, "Hey, you guys wanna watch a movie?"

"Yeah, I could go for a movie."

Ember sighed, "Actually, it's getting kinda late. I should probably get home, or the roommate is going to kill me." She kissed Danny, and hovered off the ground, "Let's try that date again another time, okay?" He nodded, and she flew up and out, going back to her apartment.

Jazz walked downstairs ahead of Danny. She tried to not be too suspicious when she got to the chair, leaving Danny to sit on the couch.

"So, what're we watching, Jazz?" the boy asked innocently, not noticing that he was sat next to Vlad. The man smirked at this, but said nothing.

"I got my hands on one of those horrors," Jazz told him, pressing play on the DVD remote. The movie, as far as movies go, wasn't that bad actually, though Danny now had a thing against horror movies.

"No! Don't DO IT DUDE! Don't open the door!" He exclaimed, much to Vlad's amusement.

"Popcorn?" The man asked him, offering the bowl. The boy nodded and took a handful of the buttery food, still too engrossed in the film to realise who had offered it to him, yet almost intoxicated by the smell.

"He's BEHIND you, dude! RUN!" The boy screamed, covering his eyes and subconsciously shifting closer to Vlad. He officially hated this movie. That was when he heard a chuckle next to him.

"I don't see what's so freakin' _funny_, Vlad!" the boy exclaimed. "This movie's terrifying!"

The man laughed again at the boy's reaction and patted him affectionately on the head. Danny, much to his own surprise, didn't even flinch and went back to munching nervously on the popcorn. Vlad smiled a little at that. That meant he was making some kind of progress. Personally, he wasn't bothered with the movie. He'd seen worse creatures than that flying around the Ghost Zone. He honestly didn't understand Danny's terror at all, though it comforted him to know that whenever Danny would get scared of the movie, he'd shift closer to him. The movie continued on for another half an hour when Vlad realised how quiet Danny had been. Sure, the movie had stopped showing fake ghosts and monsters and was showing more of the characters, but he had expected Daniel to have said at least something.

"Daniel, are y-" he stopped talking when he realised that the boy was leaned against his arm, fast asleep. Looking at him, the boy looked so at peace leaning against his father, his chest falling up and down at an even pace. Smiling fondly at the teen, he picked the boy up bridal style and made his way to Danny's room. Conveniently, Jazmine had retired to her room as soon as the movie had started, so she was probably either already asleep or studying.

"...Dad?" The boy mumbled, half asleep as he vaguely felt the sensation of being carried up the stairs. Vlad smiled at his son and ruffled his hair.

"That's right, son. Now go back to sleep." The boy sleepily nodded and snuggled up against the man's chest as he was carried to his room. Once they were finally inside, Vlad lifted the bed's duvet and gently placed Danny under it. Just as he was about to leave, he could have sworn he heard the boy mumble something. He shook his head at the impossibility of that and headed downstairs to sleep on the couch. After all, the Fentons were expected to be away for a whole week and he needed all the rest he could get. Still, that one mumbled sentence kept plaguing his mind and he couldn't help but smile.

_"__I... ove... you... Dad…"_


	2. Chapter 2

**Greetings, you awesome readers! Here's the next chapter. ^^**

_**Disclaimer: **__**Kasena and I don't own Danny Phantom or anything affiliated with it...yadda, yadda, yadda.**_

_**Chapter Two**_

The next morning, Vlad was sat at the kitchen table, eating waffles. Jazz was already awake and eating at the table with him, but she made sure to leave a seat empty next to Vlad for Danny. Danny needed a father figure in his life that wasn't obsessed with ghosts all the time and Vlad was the best he had. Plodding down the stairs sleepily, Danny came into the kitchen in his pyjamas and took the available seat next to Vlad.

"Good morning, Daniel," the man greeted cheerfully, still very cheerful from hearing what Danny had mumbled the night before.

"Mornin' Dad," Danny said sleepily, with a small smile as he eyed the syrup coated waffles on the plate in front of him that Vlad had made for himself and the teenagers. Jazz almost choked on her orange juice. Did Danny just call Vlad '_Dad_'? True, she could chalk it up to him being dazed and sleepy, but all of her psychology research pointed to what Danny subconsciously thought. He may deny Vlad as his father, but she knew that deep down, he accepted it. She looked over at Vlad, to see that he had a grin on his face. Danny, throughout the whole thing, was completely oblivious to what was going on and was perfectly content with demolishing the breakfast in front of him. After about five minutes, Danny blinked and observed his almost finished plate of waffles.

"Huh? How'd I get down here?" he muttered in confusion, looking around the room in surprise. His sister sighed at how slow Danny always was in the morning.

"You came down here five minutes ago, Danny. You probably smelt the waffles."

Danny perked up. "Waffles? You made waffles?"

The girl shook her head and gestured to Vlad, of whom still had a small smile on his face.

"I was the one that made breakfast," the man commented. "I trust it was to your liking?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically and continued to finish the rest of his breakfast. Realising that the boy was now distracted, Jazz decided to talk to Vlad about something she'd been wondering for a while.

"Hey Vlad? Can I speak to you for a minute?" she asked politely, gesturing towards the door. He nodded and walked outside the kitchen to the lounge with her.

"I assume this is about Daniel's use of the term 'Dad'?" The man guessed casually. Jazz nodded.

"The thing is, you didn't seem all that surprised," she mused out loud. "He hasn't...called you that before, has he?" Vlad smirked.

"Well, you've always been a bright girl."

"Yes or no, fruitloop?" the girl snapped. She didn't have time for his mind games today.

He sighed. "Calm down, Jazmine. To answer your question, yes. He has done so a few times. Why?"

The girl jumped up and down excitedly. "Then it means I'm right!"

Vlad rose a skeptical eyebrow, "And what, exactly, are you right about?"

"Because Dad is so obsessed with ghosts, and hardly has time for us, Danny seems to have latched on to you as a father figure!"

Vlad chuckled, "It's a bit simpler than that, my dear." He walked back into the kitchen, leaving Jazz laughing, too. She knew the real reason, but he didn't have to know that. A while ago, she could tell something was bothering her brother, and after a session with her, he had finally told her. She was glad he did tell her though. It was bad for him to keep things to himself.

**XXX**

She joined them in the kitchen, and took hers and Danny's plate to the sink. He smiled his appreciation, and went back upstairs. Once he was dressed, he flopped onto his bed, cursing Vlad. He was really disappointed he had missed his date.

His thoughts were interrupted when his ghost sense went off. Annoyed, he transformed, and flew out the window. Scanning the skies, he saw the telling shine of metal, and he flew after him. "Hey, Skulker!" He threw a punch at the ghost, but he fell forward. "Wait, what?"

Skulker's voice behind him made him turn around, "Projection. Very useful, able to make two of yourself."

Skulker got the first punch. Other than that, the fight went normally. "Word has it that Ember now has permanent residence in the human world. When did you two last fight?"

"Wait, your girlfriend was Ember? Yikes. Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but we haven't fought in months."

"Then _we_ shall fight, now." After their banter, they fought without using hand to hand combat. Eventually, Skulker paused long enough for Danny to activate the thermos, and suck him in.

He flew back to his house, and after putting Skulker back in the Ghost Zone, floated up to his room. Something Skulker had said stuck with him. "Very useful, able to make two of yourself." If he wanted to win these battles faster, he needed to learn how to duplicate.

"C'mon! C'mon! You can... _do it_...Fenton!" he tried reassuring himself after what was probably his twelfth attempt at duplication. He was starting to get exhausted, but he wasn't giving up. "Ugh, this is HOPELESS!" he groaned when he found himself with two heads again. Managing to squeeze it back to normal, he sighed in irritation and made his way downstairs. He needed a snack or something to cheer him up.

"Everything alright, Daniel?" Vlad asked when the boy walked past the lounge that he was sat in. The teen nodded distractedly and was about to walk into the kitchen when he stopped. _Vlad_. Vlad could help him! But did he want to risk asking his arch-enemy for help? Well he _was _his Dad…

"Actually," Danny confessed, approaching the man that was sitting on the couch reading a book. "I...uh…" He rubbed the back of his neck nervously. Why was this so darn hard to say? "I need your help."

"Oh?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow and putting the book down to give his son all of his attention. This was certainly an interesting development.

"I... could... um... really use some... help d-duplicating, if... that isn't too... much trouble," he finally blurted out nervously, staring at the floor. Vlad smiled proudly at the boy. He had actually come specifically to him for help? He was almost touched at the idea.

"I would love to help, Daniel."

Danny shot him a glare. "Oh come on! Why can't y-" he stopped mid sentence when he realised that the answer he had originally expected never came. "Wait, what? You _will_?"

The billionaire nodded. "Of course I will. That's what fathers do, isn't it? Help their sons?"

Danny's eyes went wide in realisation, but he quickly recovered by giving the man a grateful smile, the kind of smile he never thought he'd ever give Vlad, _ever_.

"Now, I want you to close your eyes and feel all of your core's energies building up inside of you," the man instructed, standing up from the couch and approaching Danny. The boy did as he was told and pretty soon, he could feel the chilling energy flowing through him at a rapid pace. "Now, I want you to concentrate all of that energy into splitting your form in half. You think you can do that for me?" Still with his eyes shut, the teen nodded and his body started glowing a vibrant green. However, nothing happened.

Looking excitedly at his body and realised that nothing had changed, he growled. "Ugh! That always happens!" The older hybrid frowned, but he was pretty sure he knew what the problem was.

"Try that again," he said sternly. Danny nodded and tried the same thing again, but when his body started glowing, Vlad stopped him.

"The problem is, you are too worked up about this," he told him softly, observing the boy's tense stance. "You can never truly master this technique until you are calm."

Danny sighed again and opened his eyes. "I can't help it, Vlad. I'm too worried that if I do end up with two heads or something, I won't be able to turn back to normal." The man nodded. Yes, he understood that feeling all too well. However, it was a roadblock in Danny's road to achieving duplication and he couldn't allow that.

"Daniel, try it again and focus." Frowning, the boy tried it again but when he felt his body glowing, he became nervous again.

"Calm down, Daniel," he heard Vlad tell him, putting a reassuring hand on his shoulder. "It's alright, nothing bad will happen. I've got you." Danny relaxed his tense stance. It was weird, but he actually sort of... _trusted_ Vlad to help him if things went horribly wrong. Somehow, he felt like as long as his father was there, it would be alright. After a few minutes of breathing in and out and focusing his energy, the glow subsided.

"Can I... open my eyes, now?" the boy asked nervously.

"Yes, you may open them now," the man told him, sounding rather excited.

Hesitantly, the boy obeyed and looked down at himself. He still was in one piece, that was for sure, but beside him was a...complete copy of himself, looking just as confused as he was.

**XXX**

"I...did it," the original Danny muttered in shock. "I...can't believe I...actually did it."

Vlad smiled proudly at the teen. "Yes, you did it. You, my boy, have officially achieved duplication."

Danny gave the man a wide grin and pumped a fist in the air. "Woo! Alright! Thanks a lot, Vlad!" The billionaire smiled back at the boy and shrugged.

"Glad I could help, dear boy. Now, I suggest you either give your duplicate some instructions, or dissipate it."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "How do I disi… disa… make it vanish?" he asked curiously. Vlad could have groaned at the boy's grammar. If the boy had stayed with_ him_, his _real _father, instead of Jack the _oaf_, the boy wouldn't have this kind of problem.

"That is simple. You remember how you had to let that energy _out_ to create the duplicate?" The boy nodded. "All you have to do is focus on_ concealing_ that energy in your core instead. Do you think you can do that?"

"Yeah, I can try," Danny told him, tensing his body to prepare for concealing the energy. Pretty soon, the duplicate had vanished.

"Daniel, why did you tense up like you did?" The man asked, confused.

The hero shrugged. "Well, since I was supposed to be doing the opposite of what I did before, I figure I should tense my body instead of relaxing it to conceal the energy instead of letting it out." He winced. "Was that wrong?"

Vlad shook his head, astounded. "No, of course not, son. I'm just...surprised you figured that out so quickly, that's all."

Danny shot the man a toxic glare. "HEY! I'm not _stupid_, you know!"

Vlad smirked. "Say 'dissipate'."

"Oh, shut up, fruitloop!"

The man chuckled as Danny turned around to stomp off back to his room.

"Oh, and Daniel?" The teen turned around, irritated. What did he want now?

"I'm proud of you." The man sounded so sincere, that Danny had almost thought he misheard him. The boy's eyes went wide at the obvious compliment and he blushed. Vlad wasn't one to give compliments easily and was the master of ghost powers, so if _he_ of all people thought he had done well with his powers, then it meant a lot.

"T-thanks, D-D-Dad," he stuttered out. "You're...uh...a really great teacher." With that said, Danny made his way up to his room and shut the door for some well earned rest. Duplicating was exhausting. What he didn't realise though, was that throughout the whole duplicating ordeal, his sister had been watching and listening in to the whole thing, now completely sure that Danny let on more than he said, when it came to how he saw Vlad.

**XXX**

After watching some television, there was a knocking at the front door. Danny got up and answered it. When he opened the door, he groaned, when Tucker immediately asked, "Dude, what the heck? We were supposed to go out on patrol two hours ago!"

"Sorry, guys, Da- duh… did… you kn~ow that Vlad's staying at my house?"

His friends each rose an eyebrow, but for different reasons, "Dude, you going through puberty?" He gave the glasses-wearing friend a confused look, and he explaned, "Your voice cracked."

"What was that you were going to say at first, Danny? Da…?"

"I, uh… I was gonna say Dani! Yep! I'm gonna see if I can find her, later today! Hehe, he." Danny mentally frowned at himself. Why was he already referring to Vlad as his Dad? The guy was his enemy..._wasn't he?_ Man, life was confusing, especially _his_ life. "So, we gonna go on patrol, or what?"

He was stopped by Jazz coming downstairs, and coming for Danny, "Danny, where are you going? Patrol? Hurry up, then. I need to talk to you about something when you get back, alone."

This made him nervous, and he nodded. He called into the house, "Patrol." Then quickly exited before they could be stopped. He didn't want to give Vlad the chance to make him not go on patrol.

Checking the streets for passerby, he hid behind his friends, and transformed. He put in the Fenton EarPhone Sam handed him, and flew above the streets, with them on their scooters down below, "So, how terrible is it being stuck with the fruitloop?"

He groaned, "Very. I'm basically under house arrest. I wasn't able to go on my date, last night, so she wasn't happy."

Sam scoffed, "Well, good. She needs a little disappointment every once in a while."

Danny frowned, "Sam, that's not cool. I never want to do that to her. She's had enough disappointment to last."

This caught her interest, "Oh yeah? How so?" She always wanted to know more about Ember's backstory. If she could, she could use it against her. She just _knew_ that what happened before, during, and after the golem attack was a set up. Ember set it all up just to embarrass her, and make her look like the jerk.

He sighed, "I can't tell you, Sam. It's too personal." They rode in silence, being interrupted by the occasional ghost fight. There weren't many hard ghosts, today, so after around two hours, he called it a day. "I'm gonna go home, you guys. Not much activity, today." With that, he flew away, in the opposite direction of his house.

He ducked into an alley, and transformed back into Fenton. He went into the building, until he came to a door, and knocked on it. He smiled when 'Emma' answered, "Hey, dipstick, what are you doing, here? Aren't you, like, grounded, or something?"

He shrugged, "I finished patrol early, so I figured 'why not come see my two favorite girls?'" He stepped inside, and chuckled.

Dani gasped, "Danny!" She hugged her original, and began to talk at lightning speed, "Wherehaveyoubeenwhyareyouherehowwasyourdate?"

He hugged her back, then sat on the couch, "To answer in order; I've been around, mostly at my house, I'm here cause I wanted to see you cause we finished patrol early, and we didn't have our date." At her confused look, he explained, "My parents are at a convention, so Vlad's staying with us."

Her excitement slowly changed to horror, "He's _what?!_"

He rolled his eyes, "Yeah, I know. It's really annoying. Now It's my turn to ask you, how have you been, recently?"

She launched into a speech-length explanation of her week, and the ups and downs of everything. Just as she was getting to explain about how they found a cat, there was a knocking at the door. For some reason, Danny could actually _feel_ someone's worry, care, and anger, though he couldn't figure out who's. He whispered to her, "Turn invisible, stay silent."

Doing what he said, she sat quietly on the couch, and he slowly got up to answer the door.

Opening the door cautiously, Danny gasped. It was _Vlad_.

**XXX**

"H-hey," Danny stammered nervously, opening the door a crack.

"Daniel, what on _earth_ are you_ doing_?" The man asked him sternly.

The boy laughed nervously, looking an awful lot like a kid caught with his hand stuck in the cookie jar. "J-just... hanging out at Ember's. That's all, Da... uh... Vlad!" The man could have smirked at the boy's slip up, but he was much too angry.

"Is _this_ your idea of patrolling? Hanging around strange apartments? Come on, you're coming home." Danny sighed, and turning around quickly to wave goodbye to the girls and followed Vlad out of the apartment, trying to not focus on the fear he felt behind him. He knew it was pointless to argue with Vlad when he was angry and it was weird, but he could actually _feel_ the concern radiating off of Vlad, just like he had felt all those other emotions before the man arrived. Was that a new ghost power? Sensing people's feelings? Vlad was actually... _concerned_ about him?

"Of all the irresponsible... you could have been anywhere!" Danny heard Vlad mutter as they began walking in human form back to FentonWorks. Danny sighed.

"I was only patrolling the city like I always do. Why are you so concerned about me all of a sudden?" Danny grumbled, a little louder than he had intended. Vlad turned to the boy with a frown.

"Who said anything about me being _concerned_? I just don't want Maddie to come back to a missing son when she gets back from the ghost hunting convention, that's all." Danny would have shot him a toxic glare for that, but he decided against it. The man was clearly lying. He could still feel the waves of relief, anger and worry emanating from the man. This had nothing to do with his Mum and he knew it. Could it be that...he actually did care about him, after all?

"Sorry, Dad," the boy muttered, starting to feel really guilty for worrying him like that. "I'll come straight home after patrolling next time." He said all this really quietly, but he could tell by the way the man had tensed up that he had heard him.

"Did you just-uh…" his initial shock melted into a small smile and he patted the boy affectionately on the head. "You know, just calling me 'Dad' isn't going to let you off, you know," his father told him. Danny, just like the other night, didn't shake the man's hand off for reasons he couldn't quite understand, and shrugged carelessly, a grin on his face.

"It was worth a shot." Danny tried concentrating his new powers again. He could no longer feel the anger and relief, but the concern was still there. Maybe, being his Dad, it was a constant thing? After all, he was always concerned about his friends and Dani, regardless if they were in trouble or not. The boy focused his powers again. He could feel a strong wave of happiness and love radiating off of the man now, which made Danny smile through a blossoming migraine, but he could also feel some worry underneath it all.

"Hey, Vlad? Are you worried about something?" The teen asked casually, despite really wanting to know. The billionaire looked away from the floor he had been thoughtfully staring at and let out a sigh when he heard the question.

"What... makes you say that, my boy?" Danny frowned. He obviously wasn't going to admit anything, but he could hardly admit to the dude that he could 'sense' his feelings.

"Uh... no reason. You just look a bit down, that's all."

The man shook his head and was relieved to see the giant FentonWorks sign up ahead. He didn't know how the boy could tell that he was worried, but he was glad not to push the topic further all the same. He couldn't exactly tell the teen that he was worried that his son wouldn't ever love him.

When they were finally inside, Vlad made a beeline for the kitchen to make himself some tea, but before Danny could make it to his room, his sister stopped him. "Danny, we need to talk." He nodded, and followed her to her room. She sat on her bed, leaving Danny to the desk chair, "So, how long?"

Instantly confused, he asked, "Uh, how long what?"

She smirked, "How long have you accepted Vlad as your dad?"


	3. Chapter 3

**For those awesome people that actually read this thing, here's the next chapter. :)**

_**Disclaimer:**__** Nor Kasena or I claim any ownership whatsoever to Danny Phantom. About the only thing we actually own in this story is our own writing and plot. All the characters and stuff all belong to their respective owners.**_

**Chapter Three**

"I- uh- wha- I- What?! Jazz, what are you talking about?!"

"I know that no matter what you say, you accept it. This morning, when you said Good Morning, you said 'Dad.' And he also said you've said it multiple times."

Danny was quiet, before shrugging, and saying, "I- I don't know, anymore. I mean, Dad is still my Dad, but then Vlad… I don't really know, anymore… Is that bad?"

She shook her head with a smile, "Not at all. It's completely understandable. You found someone who you can look up to, because he's a lot like you."

"I guess, but… I dunno, it's just weird to me. I- I'm gonna go to my room." He needed to think about these questions his sister had asked, and maybe do some homework, too.

Before he could, Vlad called up to them, "Dinner." Danny groaned. Just what he needed to end the day. An awkward dinner. Jazz gave him a sympathetic look, but he ignored it and plodded downstairs. He just wanted to get this dinner over with. When he finally reached the dining room, he subconsciously took the seat next to Vlad. Realising what he'd done, he mentally groaned. Jazz was right. Looking towards her, she gave him an 'I-told-you-so' look before starting to eat whatever was on her plate. He looked at his own plate; chicken, mashed potato, gravy and some round pastry things that he vaguely recognised as 'yorkshire puddings'. Looking at the food, he thought back to his conversation with his sister.

_"__I know that no matter what you say, you accept it. This morning, when you said Good Morning, you said 'Dad.' And he also said you've said it multiple times."_

_Danny was quiet, before shrugging, and saying, "I- I don't know, anymore. I mean, Dad is still my Dad, but then Vlad… I don't really know, anymore… Is that bad?"_

_She shook her head with a smile, "Not at all. It's completely understandable. You found someone who you can look up to, because he's a lot like you."_

Was she right? Did he… _look up to_ Vlad? No, of course not! The guy was evil, after all, right? After all, since he'd been staying with them, he'd done that...evil thing and then that other...oh, who was he kidding? He hadn't done anything evil at all the whole time he had been at FentonWorks. The boy mentally sighed at his uncertainty. Great, now the guy was making him question his morals. He didn't know what to do.

He brought his mind back further to yesterday when he was watching a movie with Vlad. He hadn't realised at the time, but he was sure Jazz had vanished before the movie had even started. She'd totally planned that! Strangely though, he didn't remember the ending of that film. He very vaguely remembered… a familiar voice speaking to him. He'd… identified it as his Dad's, but… Jack was probably all the way in Florida. Had Vlad…? His eyes went wide. The dude had actually taken him up to bed? That was awfully… fatherly. Then there was that concern on the way home and the way the guy had so selflessly helped him duplicate. Had he been wrong about the guy this whole time? Ugh, his brain hurt.

"Daniel, I didn't poison the food," he heard Vlad remark. The boy snapped his head up and looked at the man, confused. Apparently, he'd been thinking and staring at his food for longer than he realised.

"Yeah, I know, sorry." He prodded his chicken with his fork. Suddenly, he wasn't so hungry. Jazz frowned. She knew her brother was probably really confused right now and probably thinking over a few things. Vlad, on the other hand, didn't know this.

"Are you quite alright? You're awfully quiet." The teen gave him a weak smile. There was that fatherly concern again.

_'__Did I really call him 'Dad' this morning when I was dazed?' _he thought in confusion and he started consuming the yorkshire pudding. Did he already subconsciously think of him as his Dad? He'd already almost referred to him as 'Dad' in front of Sam and Tucker earlier, and then again in front of Ember and Dani. It didn't always feel weird to call him that, either. He sighed, then got up from the table. It was better to think about this when he didn't have the guy in question sitting right next to him. "I'm not hungry. I'm going upstairs." He left the table without another word, and pulled his door mostly closed behind him, lying on his bed.

_Is it bad that I think of him as a dad? I feel like it should be… Why is this so confusing?! He's… he's supposed to be the bad guy, cause I'm the good guy… How would Dani react? How would Sam and Tucker react? Maybe it would be okay… maybe he's not that much of a bad guy… maybe…_ With all his thinking, he hardly even noticed when he fell asleep.

After dinner, Vlad was curious. Obviously, something was weighing heavily on Daniel's mind, and he hadn't seen any sign of him since dinner. He walked up the stairs, and softly knocked on his door, "Daniel?" He pushed open the door, only to stop at the sight he saw.

Danny was curled up sleeping on his bed, hair every which way, with a stuffed badger in his arms. Vlad held in a laugh. He certainly hadn't expected that. He approached the bed, ruffling Danny's hair, "You certainly are my little badger."

Danny grumbled and absently swat his hand, "Shut up…"

Vlad chuckled and let out a sigh as he looked at the teen sleeping peacefully on the bed. "Oh Daniel, if only… you didn't see me as your enemy." The boy let out a sleepy yawn.

"I… don't," he mumbled, still deep in slumber, a small smile on his face. Vlad smiled at him but unfortunately, he knew that wasn't true. He wasn't going to kid himself. The boy was probably just talking in his sleep. He couldn't take every mumble of an unconscious boy as a sign that he loved him, no matter how hard he wanted to. Vlad put the blanket over the boy, and kissed him lightly on the forehead. "Sleep tight… little badger."

**XXX**

The next morning, Danny ate breakfast, then went back upstairs. The day went much like yesterday, he went on patrol, then came home and went up to his room. He grabbed his books, and knocked on his sister's door, "Hey, Jazz? You in there?" Opening the door, he didn't see her, and went looking downstairs. Not seeing her in the living room or the kitchen, he sighed, and asked Vlad, "Where's Jazz?"

"Jazmine went to the library about an hour ago, why?" Vlad was sitting at the kitchen table with a cup of tea.

"Well, cru~d. I was going to ask her to help me with my homework. I can just ask her when she gets home." He shook his head, trying to hide the blush. He couldn't believe his voice just cracked in front of Vlad.

What he didn't expect was Vlad to ask him, "What do you need help with?" He turned to the man, expecting him to be joking. The honest curiosity he was displaying told Danny that he wasn't joking, and he wasn't going to make fun of him.

He set down his books, "Well, I have to do math, english, and history."

Vlad shook his head, "You really shouldn't wait until the last minute to do these things, Daniel. Now, come on, sit down. Which would you rather we start on, first?"

He shrugged, "Uh, English, I guess." He handed the book to Vlad, and explained, "We're supposed to analyze the prophecies in Macbeth the witches made and predict how they're going to get around it."

He nodded, "Alright, well, first, you should figure out what the prophecies mean. The first one is 'Beware Macduff.'"

"So, yeah, that one's simple enough, stay away from the Macduff dude."

Vlad smirked, but didn't say anything, and moved on, "The second one, 'None of woman born shall harm Macbeth.'"

Danny put a hand to his forehead, "I dunno, no one who had a mom is gonna kill him? But doesn't that mean that literally no one can kill him? Everyone had a mom."

Vlad nodded, "Sound logic. Now the third, 'Macbeth shall not fall until Birnam Wood comes to Dunsinane Hill.' What about that one?"

"It sounds kinda like the whole 'This'll happen when pigs fly' thing. Right?"

Vlad nodded, "Yes, you have that right. Now, think about how those predictions, hm? How do you think those might come true?"

He scratched his head, "Well, maybe he's not careful and that guy Macduff comes after him?"

Vlad corrected him, this time, "Ah, but Macduff is the last name, so it could mean his whole family."

"Okay, so someone from his family comes after him. In the next one, maybe an animal or nature comes after him, cause they aren't born from women." When Vlad didn't say anything, he continued, "And for the third one, I dunno, maybe they cut down the trees and bring them to the castle?"

With an amused smirk, Vlad praised, "Those are very good predictions, with good logic behind them. Of course, I already know what happens, but that is a very interesting way of looking at things."

Danny gave a small smile as they moved onto math, "And I'm just having trouble with some of these problems." Vlad slowly walked him through the problems, explaining to him when he got stuck, and they eventually got through them all and moved onto history. Before they started, though, the oven went off, and Vlad got up.

Danny just realized that the smell of chocolate had been coming from the oven, and he looked on curiously. He smiled when Vlad took out chocolate chip cookies, and placed them on a plate to cool. Seeing his look, Vlad rolled his eyes, "Those are for _after_ dinner. They still need to cool. Unless, of course, you want to burn your tongue." At Danny's disappointed look, he chuckled, "Thought not. Now, what's this about your history homework?"

The boy handed him the history textbook. "We're doing the Tudors. I think it's mostly Henry Vill."

The man raised an eyebrow. "Vill?"

Danny grinned sheepishly. "Sorry, the 8th. Vill is how I remember what 8 is in those Roman numerals things."

The man nodded in understanding. He supposed that made some sort of sense. "So what is it you need to do for your homework?" The teen placed a sheet of paper in front of them with a series of questions on the front.

"I need to answer these questions. I've done most of them, but I'm stuck on a few."

Vlad nodded and skimmed over the sheet until he found a question that the boy hadn't answered.

"Why did Henry VIII want a son so desperately? What do you think, Daniel?"

The boy shrugged, trying to ignore the gorgeous smell of the cookies. "I dunno, to be honest. He had plenty of daughters and wives apparently, so it wasn't like the dude was lonely."

The man nodded. "True, but if he had a son, it meant that he could rule the country in his place. He wouldn't want a country run by a woman. It just wasn't done in those days. Besides, having a son is a lot more different than having a daughter."

Danny raised an eyebrow. "Really? How?" He personally didn't see it.

"If a father has a son, the two have a certain... connection, or a bond if you will. They can... relate to certain things that others simply couldn't understand. Besides, you can hardly do a father/son activity with a daughter." The boy nodded.

"That makes sense, I guess." He could tell Vlad was referring to him and Danielle though. The look in his eyes told him that he really meant what he was saying. "So what you're saying, is that he wanted a son to rule England when he died because he thought he could really bond with a son and that the son would do a better job than any of the daughters?" Vlad nodded proudly and the teen quickly wrote his answer down before he forgot it.

"Wow, thanks. That makes a lot more sense." The two looked through the other three questions on the piece of paper until they were finally done with them all. "Thanks for helping me with that," the teen thanked his sincerely. "I really appreciate it, since you probably found it pretty boring."

The man smirked and shook his head. "It was alright, Daniel. I find that spending time with you is never boring in the slightest. Now, you better wash your hands. Dinner is almost ready." The boy smiled at him and made his way to the bathroom. Once he'd washed his hands, however. He got an idea.

Squeezing his eyes shut, he focused on releasing his energy and managed to create a stable duplicate. The duplicate stared at him expectantly and Danny found it almost creepy how it was almost like looking in a mirror. "Okay, uh...Danny 2, I need you to go invisible and grab a cookie from the kitchen table and slip it to me from underneath the dinner table, okay?" The duplicate nodded and vanished from sight. Grinning at his brilliant plan, Danny made his way downstairs again and sat himself down at the dinner table in his usual seat next to Vlad.

"It's weird how long Jazz has been, ain't it?" Danny asked casually, distracting the man as he placed the food on the table. The man nodded.

"Hold that thought, Daniel." Vlad quickly placed the food down onto the table and spun around, shooting a weak ectoblast at the area above the plate of cookies.

"There." He nodded in satisfaction and turned to Danny. "What did I say about the cookies? I don't care if you have ice powers and the newly acquired ability to duplicate. You are _not_ having a cookie before dinner." Danny pouted and grumbled to himself. He should have known that Vlad could have detected the duplicate's ecto signature, but the cookies looked _so good_. The man smirked as the boy started drooling over the chocolate treats.

"Tell you what," the man told him, trying to conceal the amusement in his voice, "If you leave the cookies alone, I'll let you have a few extra after dinner, alright?"

The boy nodded enthusiastically. Oh, he couldn't wait for this.

**XXX**

That morning, he woke up on time, and got dressed. After packing his backpack, he made a waffle sandwich, and walked to school, meeting up with his friends along the way. "Say what you want about the dude, but he can bake. Those cookies were _delicious_. Oh! I learned how to finally duplicate!" To prove his point, the three followed him into an alley and watched as he glowed, before another him appeared.

"Woah, that's really cool! How'd you learn to do that?"

He blushed, and fed them a lie, "I just did it a lot until I finally got it." After all, he couldn't exactly tell them that he asked Vlad to teach him how. They'd think he'd gone nuts.

He dissipated the duplicate, and they continued to school. They each went to their lockers, which were thankfully near each other, and Danny got his books out of his backpack. Frowning, he went through each book again, before exclaiming, "For the love of chocolate chip cookies!"

Ember turned around, not thinking anything weird of the curse, and asked, "What is it, babypop?"

"Oh, I forgot my Macbeth book at home. Think I can share yours, Em?" She nodded, and her gave her a grateful smile.

"Uh, Danny? You feeling okay?"

He frowned, and turned to Sam, "Yeah, why?"

"Because you said 'for the love of chocolate chip cookies.'" He shrugged, not seeing the problem, until Tucker spelled out for him, "You cursed using the name of a food. Only Vlad does that." His look of confusion changed to one of terror.

"Noo, the fruitloop's infecting me! Why me?!"

Ember sighed, "C'mon, dork, class is starting." She grabbed his arm and dragged him to the class. Once in, they set their stuff down as Lancer took attendance.

"Before we continue reading, would anybody like to share the predictions they made?" Hearing uncertain mutterings around the room, Danny hesitantly raised his hand. When he was called on, he gave the answers that he came up with Vlad last night. "Those are some very good predictions, Mr. Fenton. We'll just have to see how many, if any, come true, now won't we?" He smiled, glad that Vlad had helped him with his homework. At least he was good for something. That, and baking. Throughout the rest of the class, he couldn't keep that small smile off his face.

It all swerved dangerously downhill at lunch though. His head had started really hurting him and he couldn't keep the pain from showing on his face.

"Like I said before, veggies are totally the superior food group."

"No they're not! Meat's way healthier!"

His friends were getting into an argument about food again and the boy could actually feel the anger exploding until the vibes were practically slapping him in the face, giving him a splitting headache. He clutched his head and tried to block out the vibes, but they just kept on coming. He'd also started hearing thoughts and they were driving him crazy. They just wouldn't stop and they hurt _so_ much! It seemed that that amount of power was dangerous in a sixteen year old boy.

_That girl is so hot!_

_What a creep._

_Did I do Lancer's homework?_

_What's up with that Fenton kid?_

_Is he alright?_

_What a weirdo…_

_What's wrong with Danny?_

_What the heck is Fenturd doing?_

All of these voices were hitting his head violently and he didn't think he could take anymore.

"EVERYONE, **ST~OP**!"


	4. Chapter 4

**Wow, it's been ages since I updated this thing, huh? I'm so sorry, readers! As a sort of apology, I made this one extra long. As always, reviews and stuff are appreciated a lot. Enjoy! ^^**

Disclaimer: _You know the drill. Nor Kasena and I own this and yada yada yada._

Chapter Four

"EVERYONE, **ST~OP**!" he exclaimed, standing up from the bench and clutching his throbbing head.

Everyone that wasn't already, turned to look at him, which only caused more frantic thoughts to bombard him. Not being able to handle the extreme pain anymore, he fled the school and quickly turned ghost, not even stopping to say his catchphrase or to check if anyone was around and flew home, back to FentonWorks. By now, his head felt like hot knives were being pressed against it. He'd fought plenty of ghosts, had plenty of injuries, but he'd _never_ encountered pain _even close_ to this before and he'd dislocated limbs on various occasions. The panicked boy phased through the door and sat himself onto the living room carpet, still clutching his head. The pain didn't cease, though. He could now hear the thoughts of every driver that drove past and every neighbour in the area. He didn't notice when he transformed back into his human form.

"Daniel?" A familiar voice asked, approaching the boy. "DANIEL? What's wrong? Are you alright?"

The voice was extremely panicked now as tears had started escaping through the boy's clenched eyes. Daniel never cried. This was serious. Vlad bent down next to the frightened boy and put his hands on his shoulders.

"Daniel, what's wrong? I can't help you if you don't tell me!" The billionaire had never seen anything like it. The younger halfa was currently curled up into a ball on the floor, shaking violently.

"H-hurts…" he stuttered out in a croaked voice.

"What hurts? Did you get into trouble with a ghost?" The boy didn't look injured.

"H-head… h-hurt… hurts. I c-can… I c-can hear… e-everyone's… t-t-thoughts…" he managed, with difficulty, to croak out. He screamed as another stab of pain attacked his head.

"M-MAKE… IT STOP! P-P-PLEASE!" The man panicked at the boy's desperate plea, but he knew he had to do _something_. So, going on fatherly instinct, Vlad wrapped his arms around his son, Danny gripping onto the man as if his life depended on it.

"Shhh, Little Badger… it's alright, it's okay," he told him softly, rubbing the boy's back to calm him down. The teen had started sniffling now, but the shaking didn't cease, so he assumed just calming him down wasn't going to make it stop. He decided to try another tactic.

"Block out all the other voices, Daniel," he told him, equally as softly. "They're not important. Just focus on the one you can hear with your own ears." When Danny's shaking started to slow down a little, the man smiled a little at the progress. "That's it, Daniel. Just relax. Everything is going to be fine. Just focus on my voice… good boy. Just my voice."

Eventually, the shaking stopped and Danny's head had stopped hurting. Still, that was something he definitely didn't want to happen again. Danny looked up at Vlad, still not letting go of the hug.

"Thank you, Dad," he told him, voice shaky from shock, but without hesitation present in his voice. "Thank you _**so**_ much." With that, the boy's body went limp from exhaustion and he fell unconscious. Smiling lovingly at Danny and extremely relieved that the boy seemed alright, he lifted him up bridal style and just like movie night, carried him to his bed.

Once the boy was in bed, he let out a sigh of relief. Seeing Daniel like that had, honestly, scared him. He wasn't sure what to do, and he hated feeling powerless to help him. He looked back up at the clock, and shook his head. It seemed that he had came here in the middle of school, meaning that it probably started there. He called into the school to let them know that Danny was excused and safe at home.

Afterwards, he thought to himself, _Daniel has developed the power to read thoughts? Well, hopefully he'll learn to control it, soon. More likely than not, this isn't the last time he's going to have one of his overloads. I can only hope that I can be there when it happens again. We have to pray this doesn't cause his secret to be discovered._ He looked over at the tray of cookies, and smiled.

Going upstairs, he peeked in to make sure he was still asleep, and seeing that he was, he came in. On his nightstand, he put a small plate of cookies, and milk. He tousled Danny's hair, then went back downstairs to make himself a cup of tea.

**XXX**

Not long after he had checked up on Danny, the front door opened, and Jazz, Sam, Tucker, and Ember came crashing through, and up the stairs. Sighing, Vlad put the key Jazmine had dropped on the table, and closed the door.

Meanwhile, upstairs, Danny was sitting on his bed, hugging his knees to his chest, resting his chin on them. He raised his head at the commotion. Everyone came into his room, speaking at once. He winced, this was almost as bad as earlier today. Jazz and Ember made the most fuss, checking him over for injuries. Realizing that he wasn't answering any of their questions, they got quieter until it was finally silent in the room. Jazz's eyes wandered to his nightstand, and she frowned. "So you were sick enough to ditch, but not too sick to have cookies and milk?" The rest looked over and saw a half-full glass of milk, and crumbs on a plate.

He shrugged, "They were there when I woke up."

"Woke up? Danny, what do you mean woke up?" Ember asked him worriedly.

"I guess I passed out. My head really hurt…" He looked up at them, almost ashamed, "I think I'm developing a new power. I can't control it, but sometimes I can _feel_ people's emotions, and back at lunch, I could hear everyone's thoughts. It… it was terrible. It was like major overload."

Tucker furrowed his brow, "That doesn't explain why you passed out, or how you got it to stop."

He sighed, "I just waited for it to stop, and then I passed out cause it was a lot to handle." He glanced up at Jazz, and she gave him an almost imperceptible nod. There was something he wasn't telling them, and he was going to explain, later.

Ember pushed his hair back from his eyes, "And you're absolutely sure you're going to be okay?" She hardly winced when someone's steel-toed boot slammed onto her foot.

He nodded, "Yeah, I'm sure. If it happens again, I know how to stop it. I hope." He whispered the last part to himself, not wanting to make everyone worry.

"Am I the only one that's surprised the fruitloop left Danny milk and cookies? The guy's totally lost it," Tucker commented, staring at the plate. There were nods in agreement from everyone but Danny and Jazz.

"Yeah, it's almost like he's trying to be nice or something," Sam said, raising an eyebrow.

Ember laughed. "The fruitloop wouldn't know nice if it came up to him and slapped him in the face."

Danny frowned and started fiddling with his bed covers distractedly. "He's not..._that_ bad, guys. You're being a bit hard on him." Jazz looked at her brother and gave him a kind smile. He definitely wouldn't have said something like that a few days ago.

Ember raised both of her eyebrows. "A bit _hard_ on him? Dude, I know he's your Dad, but-" She was interrupted by Sam and Tucker simultaneously exclaiming the same thing.

"WHAT?!" Ember smiled sheepishly at Danny as he glared at her. Apparently, they weren't supposed to know about that.

"He's your WHAT?!"

"Why didn't you TELL us, dude?!"

"You told EMBER and not US?!"

Danny winced. Their shouting was really starting to hurt his head.

"Quiet, you two!" she hissed, noticing the look on her brother's face. "Maybe you three should go. After all, he can't ghost fight in this state. Someone needs to take care of the city in his absence."

After everyone repeatedly asking if he was alright, and Danny confirming that he'd explain about the Dad situation later, they finally agreed to not worry too much, and to go home. Jazz hugged her little brother, and sat beside him, stroking his hair, "Alright, little brother. What really happened?"

**XXX**

Danny sighed. "Vlad, he... saved my life." The girl's eyebrows shot up. That was a new development. "The details are a bit...hazy, but he saw me in pain and... Jazz, the dude hugged me."

Jazz's eyebrows, if possible, shot up even higher.

"It's true, Jazz. And the weird part was, I... didn't shove him off like I normally would have. When he told me... it would be alright, even though my head still felt like it had been hit with a truck, I... think I actually believed him. God, if I wasn't confused about how I felt about the dude before, I am now."

The sister smiled at her little brother. Of course, she had been right all along and this proved it.

"Oh, Danny. Don't you see?"

Danny frowned at her and took a sip of milk. "See what?"

"In his own way, Vlad cares about you as his son. The way he put his pride aside and tried to make you feel better by comforting you during your breakdown proves that!"

Danny smiled a little at that as a memory of a recent event came back to him. "On my way home from patrol that night, when Vlad... uh... came to get me, I started sensing emotions for the first time."

"You can sense emotions?"

"Yeah, kinda. The whole time, the dude was actually concerned about me, Jazz. I didn't know the guy could even feel concern before this week."

The psychologist nodded. "Of course he can. He's just better at hiding his emotions in front of people. Haven't you noticed how he actually treats you like a son?"

Danny's frown deepened. "What? He doesn't-"

"Where did you pass out this afternoon?"

"The living room, but...oh crud," he groaned as the realisation of what probably happened hit him. "It's like movie night all over again. Thanks for that, by the way."

The girl grinned at him. "What did you expect me to do? You wouldn't even stay in the same room as the guy." He would have protested at that, but Jazz's stroking of his hair was so soothing that it was making him really sleepy. Besides, he was still exhausted from his previous 'breakdown', as Jazz had called it. He let out a yawn. The girl smiled at her brother as his eyelids fluttered closed. She could let the conversation go for now. Right now, she was just content with the knowledge that she was right. She also knew that deep down, Danny realised it too.

"I love you, little brother," she whispered to him, before leaving the room and shutting the door behind her.

Outside, his friends were discussing what had been revealed, and Ember was trying not to be too smug. After all, she had known something that Danny's closest friends didn't. "I just can't believe he would never tell _us!_ We're his best friends! Why did he tell you?"

Now, of course Ember could've told them he didn't tell her, but she instead said, "Oh, lots of reasons. Wouldn't you like to know?"

Tucker thought about this information, "You know, it kind of makes sense. Normally, if the fruitloop were at his house, he'd be trash talking him night and day, but we have to actually ask him about it, and then he hardly says anything. Maybe something _has_ changed."

Sam shook her head, "No way, Tucker. He probably just doesn't like to talk about him, or he…. I don't know, but it can't be that! Danny wouldn't care if the fruitloop was his dad!"

Ember nodded, "I hate to agree with the goth geek, but she's right. I don't think he'd change how he sees the jerk just cause of one little fact. Besides, on Friday, I'm pretty sure he still hated the guy."

Jazz caught up with them, "Hey guys, sorry, I was… studying." She panted, "I thought, you guys, would need help." They slowly nodded.

"So, you think you can explain all this?"

She shrugged, "I don't know the details, I don't know how he found out. What I do know is that Danny is beginning to accept Vlad as his dad. You guys giving him this negative feedback is going to make him doubt himself, and the choices he makes."

Sam glared, "Well, of course it's going to be negative! He's probably 'accepting' it cause Vlad brainwashed him, or something!"

"Seriously, Sam? What is it with you and brainwashing?!" The rock ghost exclaimed.

"You have the power to brainwash people, and if Vlad can _clone_ people, I'm pretty sure he can brainwash them!"

Jazz shook her head, "No, Sam. Danny hasn't been brainwashed, I can tell. And this is a good thing for him. He finally has someone he can look up to who can set aside ghosts, and who can actually understand and help him!"

While the beret-wearing friend agreed with his best friend's sister, the other two were still suspicious.

**XXX**

Danny yawned and opened his eyes a crack. He couldn't believe he'd fallen asleep twice in one day! Glancing at his digital alarm clock, he realised that he'd only been asleep about two hours. Yawning again, the boy, realising that his head no longer hurt, stretched and got out of bed. He couldn't sleep _all_ day, as much as he wanted to. Having a double life, he still had priorities. Besides, he hadn't eaten anything since the cookies and he was getting hungry. Danny walked passed the living room to make his way to the kitchen when Vlad spotted him.

"Are you alright, Daniel?" Danny stopped walking to enter the living room.

"Yeah, I feel a lot better now," he told him, rubbing the back of his neck nervously. "Thanks again for...y'know."

The man nodded. "It was no problem, my boy. I'm just glad my Little Badger is alright." He smirked, but when he saw the boy just smile at him in response, as opposed to glaring at him, he blinked. Well, that was new. Could the boy have changed his opinion of him? "Was there something you wanted?"

Danny shrugged. "Well, I was gonna grab a snack. What do you do in here all day, anyway?"

Vlad gestured to the briefcase next to him. "Usually things for my businesses, but right now I'm waiting for a football game to start."

The boy nodded. "Can I... watch it with you?" he asked awkwardly, still rubbing the back of his neck.

"Of course you can, son," Vlad told him, beaming, as he patted the seat next to him. Daniel actually _wanted _to spend time with him? He almost couldn't believe it, but there the boy was, sitting next to him with a small smile of his own on his face. He knew it couldn't have been because of the game. Danny didn't even know who was playing yet, though he assumed the boy would be pleased when he did.

"Here it is, folks. The Packers VS Redskins!" the commentators exclaimed, much to the boy's surprise.

"I'll get some snacks," Vlad told him, walking into the kitchen. Danny nodded.

"I'd love some of your cookies if you have any left!" Danny called to him from the lounge. Vlad smiled at the fact that his son enjoyed his cooking so much and placed the remaining ones on the plate. When he returned, Danny was stood up from the couch.

"HEY! No fair, dude! That was totally a foul!" Vlad sat down and placed the food onto the coffee table.

"What happened?" he asked, with a smirk.

"48 totally just crashed into Rodger's helmet, and they're not even calling it!"

Vlad frowned, "How can they not?"

"I don't know, but now we're back on our own 10 yard line. Man, this su- No way. Rodgers? RUN! RUN FOR IT! C'MON C'MON! YEAAHHHH TOUCH DOOWWWN!"

Chuckling, he told the boy, "Ah, but the game's only started, Daniel. It would be poor to get excited too early. The score is only 7 to 0."

"I don't care, we're going to win this thing!" The game continued, and by the end of the first quarter, the score was 10-7 in favor of the Redskins. He glared at the television screen, "They better not win this thing. RG Knee so doesn't deserve to win."

Once the next quarter started, there was a lot of back and forth between the two teams, without much scoring. The only score made was by the Redskins, and it was another field goal, leaving the score at 13-7 by half time. Danny groaned, "Ugh, this is not good. We really need to start putting the points up. We can not let the Redskins win."

Vlad nodded, "I completely agree. It would hurt our record if we lost to them in our home field." Danny grabbed some of the chips, grumbling about how they needed to score, and snacked on them.

During the third quarter, the Packers made two more field goals, and Danny was getting excited, again. "C'mon, it's 13-13, we can do this! 48 seconds left in the quarter, c'mon, stop 'em, stop 'em, stop 'em." One of the Redskins ran it in for a touchdown. "Nooo, it's gonna take forever to get those points back! Wait, what? Clay? Clay, are you alright? Nononono, you're okay, you're not injured, c'mon!" He watched in horror as they put Clay Matthews on a stretcher and brought him into the locker room.

Vlad gasped, "No, this can't be happening! Oh, my fantasy team is going to suffer greatly for this."

"Oh, for the love of chocolate cake! This is awful!" Vlad turned to the boy in shock. Did he really just say what he thought he just said?

"Daniel? What did you just say?" he asked incredulously.

Danny regarded him with a confused look. "What?" Then he groaned when the realisation of what he'd just said hit him. "Ugh, I cursed with sweets again, didn't I?"

Vlad chuckled. "Again? It's happened more than once?"

Danny hmph'ed. "You're contagious. Now shut up and let me enjoy the game." Vlad grinned at his son. The boy really _was_ more like him than he realised.

He was interrupted from his thoughts with the teen's shocked gasp, "Oh, thank Clockwork we tipped the ball! We still have a chance at this!"

Throughout the entire fourth quarter, they were on the edge of their seats. Just when they thought they were going to score, the ball was intercepted, or they weren't able to run, or score. Finally, they were at the opponents 26 yard line, with 32 seconds left in the game, and no timeouts left. They hardly even noticed Jazz come back from a longer than normal patrol. She almost asked what they were doing, when she saw the tv, and tried to not giggle. Suddenly, both their eyes went wide, and Vlad began muttering, "Aaron, what are you doing? You don't run it."

They stood up when he made it into the endzone. Here it was, the moment of truth. The score was 19-19. If they could make this extra point, they would move on to the playoffs. Danny at this point started to pray, "Oh, Clockwork, help us, please let us win, come on, Clockwork help us…" End over end it went, going towards the right of the posts. Finally, after what seemed like forever, the referees called it good.

"Woo! ALL RIGHT!" Danny cheered, hugging the man next to him excitedly. Vlad's eyes went wide, as did Jazz's, of whom had been watching the two 'bond' over the football game. Getting over his initial shock, the billionaire hugged his son back. Unfortunately, that was when Danny realised what he'd done.

"He... he... sorry, about... uh, that," he told him, embarrassed as he let go of his father quickly.

A little upset that the teen had only hugged him by accident, Vlad tried to compose himself and nodded at him. "It's fine, Daniel. Now, I suggest you get some more rest. You're starting to look a little pale." Sure enough, the teen felt his headache returning and he nodded.

"Alright. Thanks, by the way. I had...fun." Danny told him, a small smile on his face as he made his way to his room. Jazz watched the whole exchange with amusement. Honestly, sometimes her brother was so easy to read. Noticing how downcast Vlad looked though, her smile fell.

"Cheer up, Vlad," she told him kindly. "Believe it or not, my brother actually seems to be warming up to you." Before Vlad could comment on what the psychologist had said, Jazz tiredly made it up to her room. The team had to fight a particularly difficult ghost that night, but she was glad her brother was feeling better. Still, she was exhausted. Almost as soon as the girl's head had touched the pillow, she was out like a light.

**XXX**

Danny on the other hand, was far from tired and was just lying on his bed, with a massive grin on his face as he thought over what had just happened. He'd actually hung out with his birth Dad...and enjoyed it. He didn't think it was possible, but he'd done it. He'd never actually asked to spend time with Vlad before, but the guy, he realized, really wasn't that bad. Heck, the guy had noticed the minute his headache had returned before _he_ even realized it had.

Since when had either of his parents noticed when he as much as came home with bruises and cuts from ghost fights? He was sure that if he did that this week, Vlad was bound to notice and it comforted him to know that at least one parent cared enough to realize when something was up. Sure, it helped with his secret, but at the same time, he did wonder how they couldn't notice. Man, Vlad was looking like a better Dad the more he thought about it. Wow, Ember would kill him for just thinking that. That was when he remembered something. Ember! Through the whole situation, he'd completely forgotten about his girlfriend and their date. He picked up his phone and rang her number.

"_Yo. Ember, here."_

"Hey, Em!"

"_Danny? How're you feeling, babypop?"_

"I'm alright, still got a bit of a headache, though. Hey, about that date-"

"_Forget about it, Danny. You're not well as it is."_

"No, I wanna make it up to you. I'm fine, really!"

"_Danny, I-"_

"What if...I can get it in a fancy restaurant?"

"_I'm listening..."_

Danny, with difficulty, finally managed to convince Ember that he was well enough to go on a date and to meet him at FentonWorks on Friday. The only question was, how was he going to afford reservations to a fancy restaurant? That was when his father came to mind. The guy was filthy rich, right? He normally wouldn't try this with Vlad, but he had no choice. That, and he was starting to gain a better opinion of the man. So, walking downstairs into the lounge, he started on his plan, swallowing his pride while he was at it.

"Hey, uh… _father_?" he asked the billionaire sweetly, of whom was looking very suspicious.

"What are you after, Daniel?" Vlad asked, putting his laptop, of which he'd had on his lap, down onto the couch.

"After? _Me_? Who says I'm after _anything_?" He tried to put on his most innocent look.

Vlad smirked. The boy really _was_ after something. Still, his attempt at being manipulative was clever, he could give it that. Deciding to just cut to the chase, the man put on the most straight face he could. "Alright, what do you want? Your tricks won't work on me."

Danny, realising this wasn't working, sighed in defeat. "Okay, look. I need cash."

"Money? Whatever for?" He'd never known the boy to need money from anyone.

"I wanna impress Ember with a date at one of those fancy restaurants that I can only afford to see the outside of," he finally admitted, ashamedly.

Vlad raised an eyebrow. "Definitely not."

Danny frowned. "But Daaaaaaaad!" he whined, putting on his most adorable, puppy dog face. He didn't think it would work, but hey, it was worth a shot. Vlad watched as Danny tried to look as cute as possible, trying not to laugh at the boy's large blue eyes staring at him.

"No, Daniel," he chuckled. "I'm not giving you money that you're going to blow on a girl that doesn't even need to eat." Danny blinked.

"Wait, ghosts don't eat?" he shook his head. "Nevermind that, it doesn't matter. I just want to make this date special. After all, you're the reason I couldn't go on last week's date. This is like the make up date or something."

Still, Vlad was firm. "No means _no_, Daniel."

"Oh, come on!" Danny exclaimed. "Please? Don't tell me you never did anything stupid to impress my Mum!"

The man blushed, but still shook his head.

The boy sighed. "Vlad, I never ask for money. I especially would never ask for money from you, but this is important." He hung his head in defeat. "But fine, if you're not gonna-"

"Alright," Vlad grumbled, finally giving in. He knew he couldn't say no to his son for long, especially if it was something this important to him. "But only if you promise to do me a favour."

The teen shrugged carelessly and nodded. A while ago, he would have instantly said no to doing the man a favour, but he supposed it couldn't be that bad. Vlad hadn't tried anything evil in less than a week.

"Fine, lay it on me."

Vlad smirked. "You don't look very nervous at what the 'favour' could be. What if it's something 'evil'?"

Danny shrugged again, still not even remotely worried. "You wouldn't make me do something evil. I trust you."

Vlad smiled at the boy and the way he hadn't looked scared at what the 'favour' may be and was honestly very touched. The teen trusted him? When did _that _happen? Little did he know, Danny was also thinking the same thing.

"Right, well," the man began. "If I agree to let you use my money for this date, you need to agree to do _no_ ghost fighting for the rest of the week. Do you understand?"

Danny's eyebrows shot up. "What? Why?"

Vlad frowned. "Because I said so. Now, do we have a deal?" Before Danny could say anything in response, he felt a stabbing pain in his forehead again, followed by the thoughts of the only other person in the room.

"_He gets hurt too badly in those ghost fights. His friends can handle the ghosts for a while until he at least recovers from the overload he had earlier. Honestly, I really worry about that boy."_

Danny stared at the man in shock, which quickly melted into a smile.

"Daniel? Are you alright?" He'd seen the teen wince at his head again, but he seemed to have recovered quickly because now he was smiling.

"Y-yeah, I'm fine. I, um... agree to your terms and stuff."

Vlad frowned. "This is serious, Daniel. I'm doing this for your own good."

The boy nodded seriously. "I know. Thank you, Vlad. I really appr~eciate it." Danny was referring to two things when he said that, but Vlad didn't know that and Danny had no intention of telling him that he could read his mind any time soon.

"Good. You'll get the money on Friday, but in the meantime, rest that poor head of yours. It's still recuperating from the overload earlier." Danny nodded and let out a yawn. He was suddenly really tired.

"Oh, and Daniel?"

"Hmm?"

"When I say 'go to bed', I mean _stay_ there." Suddenly much too sleepy to argue, Danny turned around and walked back to his room, fully intending on doing what Vlad said. He nearly tripped on his way up the stairs, but he was able to make it to his room. Vlad sighed, and started on dinner. He hoped they weren't too deeply asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**I have Sociology homework to do, but I figured I'd update this first for the awesome people actually reading this. Boring homework can wait for tomorrow...**

**Enjoy! ^^**

_Disclaimer:__ Neither Kasena or I own Danny Phantom because if we did, writing these as fanfics instead of episode scripts would be so pointless._

**Chapter Five**

Almost an hour later, he went upstairs, and knocked on each of their doors, "Dinner."

The two opened their doors, not caring about their bedhead and plodded downstairs. They sat in their normal seats and smiled at the food in front of them. Without snapping out of their haze, they ate and then went back upstairs for some well-deserved rest. Vlad rose an eyebrow, but didn't say anything. A couple hours later, he was catching up on the work he had missed, when he felt Danny's ecto-signature spike.

Sighing, he went upstairs, and opened the door. "Daniel, I thought I-" He stopped himself when he saw the boy in bed, but in his ghost form, throwing punches with his eyes closed. He rose an eyebrow, and quickly came to the realisation that the boy was ghost fighting in his sleep. "Daniel?"

"Get outta here… Too powerful…" Now, he was very confused. Could he actually hear him?

"Daniel, who are you fighting?" He asked, to see if he was just imagining it.

Danny responded, "Technus… look out"

Vlad instinctually turned around, but remembering it was only in Danny's dream, he turned back. From his expression, it seemed that he was in pain, and he wasn't sure what to do. He grabbed Danny's wrists and held them together, "Daniel, you need to stop."

He shook his head, "No, need… need to fight."

Realising he couldn't just snap him out of the dream, he said, "No, you don't, Daniel. You told me you wouldn't fight anymore."

He began to stop fighting against him, "But I… but…" moments passed by, and he let out an, "Okay…" He then slept more peacefully, and transformed back into his human form. Vlad let out a sigh, and thought, "_This week is not going to be easy on either of us."_

He softly smiled, and kissed the top of his son's head, then messed his hair. "Good night, son." As he left, he didn't notice the smile that spread on Danny's face. He then went back downstairs, and flipped the tv over to the news.

"_And in case you missed it earlier, here it is again. A video of these three unknown kids and a ghost, fighting a robot ghost. Everyone in Amity Park is wondering, why are these kids fighting, and where is Danny Phantom? More on that story later. And now, the weather."_ He rose an eyebrow. Apparently patrol hadn't gone very smoothly, today. Well, they had survived, and from what he saw, Jazmine only had a cut or two. Still, he couldn't keep down a bad feeling in the pit of his stomach.

He thought back to Daniel. The boy went through way too much for a teenager, so there was no wonder he had started 'sleep-fighting'. Still, it concerned him. Perhaps Daniel was in some need of some more direct training. He would have to see if the boy would accept if first though. As for the giant ghost attacks, Vlad decided that there was no way he was going to let that make Daniel fight ghosts again. He also wasn't comfortable with Daniel's friends getting beaten up by the ghosts either, so he supposed he would have to take some time away from his work and help them for a while, invisibly of course. He sighed. Daniel's hero complex was starting to rub off on him.

The next morning, Danny stretched and got out of bed, ready for school for once.

"Mornin'!" he said cheerfully, taking a seat at the kitchen table where his breakfast was waiting for him.

"Good morning, son," Vlad greeted tiredly, taking a sip of coffee. "You're awfully chipper this morning."

"I guess I just had a really good night's sleep," he told him, shovelling some toast into his mouth. Oddly enough, Vlad had made it just how he liked it. Maybe he liked it that way too? He looked at his father. The guy had darker rings around his eyes than normal and was yawning an awful lot. "Which is more than I can say for you. Didn't you get any sleep last night?" he asked, concerned. The man gave the teen a weak smile.

"No, not particularly." He'd actually been up the rest of the night dealing with ghosts, not that Daniel needed to know that. He would only worry and insist on helping after all. "Speaking of sleeping, I need to talk to you about something."

Danny put down his toast and stared at him expectantly. "Yeah?"

"I was going to suggest you train with me. I know I said you couldn't fight ghosts, but this is different."

The teen raised an eyebrow. "Where'd that come from? I expected you to ask me that on your first day here, as well as give another 'join me' speech."

Vlad decided to ignore the last sentence and decided to answer the main one. "I came to your room last night. There was a giant spike in ecto energy."

Danny gasped, "What happened? Was there a ghost attack? Why didn't my ghost sense wake me up?"

The billionaire sighed. "Daniel, _that_ is the problem. There _was_ no ghost attack. You were fighting ghosts in your sleep. You need training, whether you realise it or not. The build up of unused ghost energy is too much for your ghost core to handle because you simply do not know how to use it."

The teen was quiet for a minute as he frowned, taking a few bites out of his toast. Vlad was almost worried the boy would insist on ghost fighting again and decline his offer. He wouldn't put it past him. "Alright," Danny told him seriously, pulling the man out of his thoughts. "I'll do training. When do you wanna do it?"

"Well, as long as you don't have any tests in school, today."

Danny frowned, "Are you telling me to ditch school?"

With an amused tone, he said, "No, Daniel, I'm telling you that I will call into the school and excuse you." Danny nodded, and continued eating his toast.

**XXX**

Jazz came down the stairs and grabbed the pieces of toast. Seeing Danny still sitting at the table, she asked him, "Danny, are you going to need a ride? It's almost 7:45."

He waved her off, "Don't worry, I'll be fine, Jazz. You go, you can't ruin your perfect attendance." Still unsure, she glanced at Vlad, and nodded. At this point, she trusted Vlad enough to know what he was doing. Of course, though, if something were to happen to her little brother, he would be the first one she came after. She kissed the top of Danny's head, and headed out the door. He gave a half-hearted glare, though he knew she cared.

Seeing that they had both finished breakfast, Vlad transformed himself into Plasmius and went to the basement door, "Let's start, then."

"Plasmius…" Danny growled, putting on a defensive stance when he saw the man's ghost form for the first time in a while.

"Daniel? What are you doing?" Vlad asked cautiously, noticing the teen's now hostile attitude.

"Huh?" Danny blinked. "Uh... nothing, sorry. Just a habit I guess."

Vlad frowned. "I'm not going to hurt you, dear boy. Now come on, we have practice to do."

Danny nodded and eagerly followed him, until that eagerness dimmed when he had to go through each power so Vlad could see where he was at. He went through invisibility, intangibility, flying, ghost ray, and ghost shield, which Vlad said needed work. Finally, they got to ice powers, and Danny smirked. He put his hand behind his back and, concentrating heavily on what he was doing, created a small object of ice. Without giving any sign or signal, he tossed it to Vlad, who caught it with minimal effort.

He examined the object, and couldn't contain his laughs. The boy had made a small ice figurine of a badger. Seeing his dad laugh, he frowned, "What?" Though hearing Vlad laugh genuinely was a nice change.

"It- it has a likeness to your- your stuffed badger," He said through laughs.

Realising what he was talking about, he blushed, crossing his arms. "Shut up, I had that way before I even met you."

His laughs finally subsiding, he put it down on the desk, "Well, alright, better find something to clean it up once it melts."

Danny shrugged, "Oh, it's not going to melt. It's spectral ice."

"Interesting…" the man remarked, examining the badger closer. It really was incredibly detailed and it couldn't melt? Remarkable.

"You know, you can...have that if you want," Danny told him, noticing how much Vlad seemed to like it. "I can make plenty more, after all." Vlad smiled at his son and nodded, pocketing the figure.

"Why thank you, Daniel. Now, let's work on your energy usage."

The boy raised an eyebrow. "My energy usage? What about it?"

Deciding to prove to the teen what he meant, he commanded, "Produce an ectoshield for me." Giving Plasmius a curious look, he did as he was told and brought a green, squared ectoshield in front of him. Vlad, with a frown, shot several strong crimson ectoblasts at the shield and it shattered after only the third blast. "You see, this is what I'm talking about, dear boy. You don't seem to be using nearly enough energy in your attacks or defenses."

Phantom frowned. "I'm using enough energy doing attacks, Vlad! If I put too much energy into the shield, I won't have enough for my actual attacks!"

Plasmius crossed his arms. "Daniel, you cannot simply 'run out' of energy. Your ghost form is a lot more powerful than you think. Now try it again, using as much energy as you can."

Sighing, Danny brought his hands up in front of him and let loose his energy into the square ectoshield again, only this time, he tried to use all of his energy. Looking at the shield, he raised his eyebrows and found that it looked a lot thicker than one of his usual shields and was, to his surprise, a dark green colour that was illuminating the whole room.

"Did I just...woah…" Danny muttered, staring in awe at the sheild. Deciding to test its endurance, Plasmius readied his crimson blasts and unleashed them on the shield. First he shot three strong blasts, then four, five, six. By the tenth blast, the man was starting to pant and it still hadn't even gained a scratch.

"Well done, my boy. You should be able to defend people and yourself a lot better using a shield like that," he told him, remembering Danny's hero complex.

The boy grinned at him. "Wow, thanks a lot!"

"Now," Vlad said with a smirk, "why don't you show me how you duplicate?"

The teen hero shot him a cocky smirk and duplicated himself with ease. "Piece of cake, dude. I've been practicing." He then absorbed the duplicate.

"Getting cocky, are we?" Vlad chuckled. "How about you try fighting me with the shield?"

Danny narrowed his eyes challengingly, with the ever present grin on his face and got into a fighting stance. "Bring it on, Plas!"

Without responding to the teen, Plasmius started firing a torrent of ectoblasts at the boy, of which were easily dodged by either rolling out of the way or blocking it with the strong ectoshield. In retaliation, Danny shot a few powerful blasts back that, to the surprise of both halfas, almost hit Vlad.

"Nice aim," the man remarked in between blocking the shots.

"Thanks," Danny replied, panting as he dodged a few shots himself. "You're _great_ target practice!" Even though what he'd said sounded offensive, neither halfa could hide the grins on their faces as they practiced fighting. For once, there really was no hostility in it and was, Danny had to admit, pretty enjoyable.

However, both grins fell when Danny actually managed to hit the man in the shoulder, due to the man being so tired. Vlad winced and made a pained noise. The boy's ectoblasts really were a lot more powerful when he poured his energy into them. Danny gasped and ran up to his dad.

"Oh my gosh! Are you alright?" he asked, a panicked look on his face. Vlad looked up from his burning shoulder and smiled weakly at his son.

"Congratulations, my boy. You finally managed to hit me."

**XXX**

Danny frowned in concern and stared at the hand the man was using to clutch his shoulder. "Why the heck did you let your guard down? Crud, it's not dislocated is it? Tell me I didn't dislocate it!"

Vlad patted Danny on the head lightly. "It's just a little burnt, that's all," he reassured him. "No need to be so worried about me." Daniel had never acted this way when they'd fought before. If anything, hitting him always seemed to make Danny excited. Maybe something _had_ changed? Danny glared at him stubbornly.

"I-I'm not _worried_," he stammered out. "I just- we better get some ice on that shoulder."

Noticing the teen's change of subject, the man nodded. The boy was lying and they both knew it. Still, he followed the boy to the kitchen and sat down at the table.

"Here." Danny guiltily handed Vlad a kitchen towel. Then, he summoned up a small ice crystal and placed it inside the towel and placed it on the man's shoulder. "There, that'll do it. Sorry about hitting you. Sometimes I don't know my own strength."

The older half ghost smirked at the boy and held the towel in place. "You know, I don't think I've _ever_ heard you apologise for hitting me with an ectoblast before."

Danny blushed and rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, I guess I…" He was interrupted by the door opening.

"Jazz? You're back early," her brother remarked, happy for the change of subject as he saw the girl walk in. She gave him a strange look.

"Danny, school just finished." The boy frowned. They'd actually been training for _that_ long?

Vlad smiled kindly at the boy. "We've been training for a good few hours, Daniel. Perhaps you should get some rest? You must have used a lot of energy today."

Danny let out a yawn and nodded, making his way to his room. It seemed that he'd been getting a lot more sleep than he usually did this week. Usually, he'd only be running on about three hours of sleep a week, so it was almost like his body was making up for it.

"So," Jazz asked once her brother had left. "How'd it go?"

The billionaire smirked. "You know, I do believe you may be right, dear girl."

That was when the teen finally realised that the man was holding a kitchen towel to his shoulder. "Yikes, what happened to you?"

He frowned. "The boy actually hit me with a very strong ectoblast and _apologised _for it."

Jasmine's eyes widened. "He actually _apologised_ to you?" This was certainly a new development. Maybe they were making a breakthrough?

"Yes, as strange as that is. He had _never_ apologised for attacking me before, not that I'm complaining."

Meanwhile, Danny was laying on his bed, but he couldn't sleep. Really, he was glad his sister had come in when she had. Otherwise, he wasn't sure what he would have said to Vlad. That he was really worried that he had hurt him? That he didn't like to see him get hurt anymore? Definitely not. He wasn't sure how the guy would take that.

Danny suddenly shuddered as he felt his ghost sense go off, distracting him from his thoughts. He was just about go ghost and sort the ghost out, when he remembered the promise he had made to Vlad.

"_If I agree to let you use my money for this date, you need to agree to do no ghost fighting for the rest of the week. Do you understand?"_

"_Yeah. I, um...agree to your terms and stuff."_

He couldn't go back on his word now. He couldn't betray Vlad like that. Maybe it was just the Box Ghost? Yeah, that would be it. Still, he couldn't just do nothing. He could sense whoever it was right outside his window, so the least he could do is check. Taking a look outside the window onto the street below, he frowned. There was a large ghost panther floating menacingly a few feet off of the ground, growling. Jazz, Sam, Tucker and Ember were all firing at it with ghost weapons or in Ember's case, a ghost guitar, but neither attacks seemed to be having much effect. He watched in shock as the glowing panther swiped at Tucker, sending him flying across the street and knocking Ember's guitar out of her hands in the process. Just when all seemed lost and he'd contemplated disobeying the older halfa and helping them out, a figure that nobody but him seemed to notice, flew behind the animal and shot a powerful crimson energy disk at it.

The large feline was flung against a building, much to the confusion of his friends, girlfriend and sister down below. Danny assumed that the only reason he had briefly been able to see the figure was because he was high up enough to see all of the action, but he didn't need to see the person to figure out who it was. Red energy disks? That was such a Plasmius move. But why would Vlad even help his friends out like that? Unless...he wasn't trying to help them, but help him instead? The guy probably assumed his friends would have trouble with the ghosts, but he was surprised the guy was bothering to help. Danny mentally grinned. It was almost as if some of him was rubbing off on the guy, just like how Vlad's pastry curses had started rubbing off on him.

He watched as Vlad invisibly shot several regular ectoblasts at the creature before Sam snapped out of her confused stupor and sucked the panther into a Fenton thermos. With that done, Jazz walked back inside the house with Vlad following invisibly behind her. Everyone else dispersed, probably going to their respective homes. Danny loved how much his friends cared about him that they would go as far as putting their lives in danger to give him a break from ghost fighting. He definitely couldn't have asked for a better team and having another ghost around with her guitar to help out was definitely a bonus. He'd gotten over the initial shock of Vlad helping out by now, but he figured he'd play dumb for a while. His dad obviously didn't tell him about this for a reason and he wasn't going to mention it. Still, he wanted to show his appreciation. Walking downstairs, he made his way to the kitchen and put the kettle on. If there was one thing he knew about Vlad, it was that the guy _loved_ tea.

Danny, once he'd finished making a cup of tea that didn't look like it would eat the guy's face off, walked into the living room. Vlad was in there, sat exhausted on the couch, so the boy placed the steaming cup onto the coffee table.

"Daniel?" The man asked tiredly, looking at the cup in confusion. "Whatever is this for?"

Danny smiled warmly at him. "Just to say...thank you and...sorry for earlier. Don't worry, I didn't drug it or poison it. I just know how much you like tea." The boy watched as his father took a few sips of the tea, not being able to hide the smile the warm liquid gave him. He wasn't even aware that Daniel knew how to make tea, but he wasn't complaining.

"Thank you, Little Badger."

Danny shrugged. "It's not a big deal. But I think you should go to bed soon. You look exhausted." Not waiting to hear a response, Danny went back to his room.


End file.
